Line users in Thailand snatch up branded iPhone cases in under 25 minutes

Today, Line conducted a flash sale of character-branded iPhone cases in Thailand, marking the app’s first such promotion in the country. The cases sold out in about 25 minutes.

Line Thailand notified domestic users of the upcoming promotion on the 10th, when it created a Line Flash Sale account which users could join to receive updates regarding a mystery product that would go up for grabs. Today at 12:02 PM Line revealed it would be doling out a set of iPhone 5/52 cases, and 24 minutes later the official account posted a notice announcing the goods had sold out.

It’s not clear how many cases went up for sale, nor is it clear how many people in total attempted to snag one. Without these numbers it’s difficult to assess the impact of the promotion, but we’ll give Line the benefit of the doubt for now and assume it was successful.

Earlier this week we reported that Line has pushed harder towards m-Commerce in Thailand by partnering with L’Oreal’s Maybelline Thailand and aCommerce to run a flash sale. Since this upcoming flash sale pushes a specific product rather than company swag, it will likely lead to even more like-minded promotions and m-commerce integration if its met with success.

Judging from the results of the the flash sale today, we should expect to similar results from Maybelline flash sale on the 16th.

Could flash sales on messaging apps turn into a trend? It’s certainly a great way to generate buzz. As we’ve reported before, on November 19th, Xiaomi sold 150,000 smartphones in less than 10 minutes on Chinese messaging app WeChat.